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PANAMA 
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DUMCAN  E^.M^KlNLAY 


DUNCAN    E.    McKINLAY 

Who    as    a    Member    of    Congress 

Visited    the    Canal    with    the 

Interstate    Committee    of 

the  House 


THE  BIG  FOUR  OF  THE'  PANAMA  CAN AL—P resident  William  Mc- 
Kinley,  President  William  H.  Taft,  President  Theodore  Roosevelt  and 
Colonel  G.  W.  Goethals. 


THE 

PANAMA     CANAL 


DUNCAN    E.     McKINLAY 
it 


W 


1912 

:    R  A  Y    \V  i  < ; . ,  i  \    Co 


SAX    FRANCISCO 


COPYRIGHT  BY 
WHITAKHR  &  RAY-WIGGIN  CO. 

1912 


DEDICATED 
TO 

PRESIDENT  WILLIAM  HOWARD  TAFT 
BY  THE  AUTHOR. 


271080 


THE  PANAMA  CANAL 


Of  all  subjects  now  occupying  the  attention  of  the  world 
at  large,  and  of  importance  not  only  to  the  State  of  Cali- 
fornia, but  to  all  the  territory  west  of  the  Rocky  mountains 
and  the  islands  and  coasts  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  over  which 
the  American  flag  floats  in  sovereignly,  none  is  paramount 
to  the  construction  of  the  Panama  Canal.  The  completion 
of  the  canal,  while  a  world  event,  will,  of  course,  be  of 
peculiar  significance  and  importance  to  that  portion  of  the 
globe  which  borders  on  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Countries, 
islands,  coasts  and  States  that  for  centuries  have  been 
isolated  and  far  distant  by  water  routes  from  the  centers 
of  population  of  Europe  and  Eastern  United  States,  will 
be  brought  thousands  of  miles  nearer  to,  and  consequently, 
into  more  intimate  social,  industrial  and  business  relations 
with  the  more  highly  organized  governments  of  Europe  and 
America. 

In  effect,  the  opening  of  the  canal  in  1915  to  the  com- 
merce and  trade  of  the  world  will  be  the  realization  of  the 
dream  of  Columbus,  who  sailed  across  the  Atlantic  in  1492 
to  discover  a  shorter  water  route  between  Europe  and  Asia, 
and  the  fulfillment  of  the  prophecy  of  Baron  von  Humboldt, 
who,  between  the  years  of  1799  and  1805,  explored  and  sur- 
veyed a  great  portion  of  Central  and  South  America.  Hum- 
boldt, as  a  result  of  his  explorations,  predicted  that  within 
a  reasonable  period  of  time  the  two  largest  oceans  of  the 
world,  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific,  would  be  united  by  an 


THE   PANAMA    CANAL 


artificial  water-way.  This  water-way,  in  his  opinion,  as  ex- 
pressed in  a  letter  to  his  friend,  the  German  poet  Goethe, 
would  be  constructed  by  the  little  republic  at  the  north,  the 
United  States,  even  then  beginning  to  take  an  important 
place  among  the  powers  of  the  world. 

In  1867,  the  energy  and  foresight  of  Seward  acquired 
Alaska  as  an  addition  to  American  territory;  and  though 
Seward  was  laughed  at  and  reviled  as  a  foolish  dreamer 
because  of  his  purchase  of  a  so-called  iceberg  and  a  fog- 
bank,  nevertheless,  that  able  statesman  and  diplomat  point- 
ed out  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  that  some  day  the 
Pacific  Ocean  must  become  the  world's  greatest  sea  of 
commerce  and  trade,  and  that  in  that  day  Alaska  would  be- 
come one  of  the  most  valuable  possessions  of  the  Ameri- 
can nation. 

Those  dreams  and  prophecies  today  are  reaching  their 
culmination  and  fulfillment  in  the  opening  of  the  Panama 
Canal,  which  will  be  celebrated  in  San  Francisco, — yes,  not 
only  in  San  Francisco,  but  throughout  all  California  and  the 
sister  States  of  the  western  coast — by  the  greatest  interna- 
tional exposition  ever  conducted  in  the  history  of  civiliza- 
tion. It  will  be  a  jubilee  celebration  in  which  all  the 
States  and  principalities,  nations  and  empires  of  the  world 
will  join  in  proud  and  thankful  participation. 

The  History  of  the  Canal 

The  idea  of  constructing  an  artificial  water-way  between 
the  Caribbean  Sea  and  the  Gulf  of  Panama  is  as  old  as  the 
discovery  of  America.  Christopher  Columbus,  in  early  life, 
became  converted  to  the  idea  that  the  world  was  round, 
and  his  studies  led  him  to  believe  that  by  sailing  in  a  direct 
course  and  sailing  far  enough,  he  could  circumnavigate  the 


RUINS    OF    SANTA    DOMINIE    CHURCH,    PANAMA. 


THE   PANAMA    CANAL 


globe  and  come  back  to  the  point  from  which  he  started, 
provided  he  could  keep  on  that  straight  course.  This  be- 
lief naturally  led  him  to  the  conclusion  that  by  sailing 
westward  from  Spain,  across  the  Atlantic,  he  could  reach 
the  coasts  and  the  islands  of  Asia,  which  about  that  time 
were  coming  into  great  prominence  as  a  desired  market 
for  the  exchange  of  the  wares  of  the  producers  and  the 
manufacturers  of  Europe. 

The  only  mistake  made  by  Columbus  was  that  he  esti- 
mated the  circumference  of  the  world  at  about  8.000  miles, 
instead  of  over  24,000.  Following  his  theory,  Columbus 
embarked  on  his  first  and  greatest  voyage,  and  was  suc- 
cessful, as  we  know,  in  discovering  one  of  the  islands  of  the 
\Yest  Indies.  Columbus  made  four  voyages  in  all  to  the 
newly  discovered  land,  but  it  is  doubtful  as  to  whether 
or  not  he  ever  reached  the  mainland  of  America.  One  of 
his  historians  claims  that  on  his  last  voyage  he  landed  upon 
the  coast  of  Honduras  in  Central  America,  and  on  the  land 
now  known  as  Venezuela,  farther  toward  the  south.  This 
fact  is  of  little  importance  to  us  at  this  time.  We  do  know, 
however,  that  Columbus  died  in  ignorance  of  the  fact  that 
he  had  discovered  a  great  continent  instead  of  some  of  the 
islands  of  the  East  Indies. 

Immediately  following  the  death  of  Columbus,  his  enter- 
prising lieutenants,  men  like  Vespucci,  Ojeda,  Balboa,  and 
others  of  equal  prominence,  pushed  their  explorations 
farther  westward,  and  Balboa,  the  boldest  of  the  Spanish 
conquistadores,  fitted  out  an  expedition  in  Hispaniola, 
which  island  was  then  the  base  of  operations  of  Spanish 
exploration  and  conquest,  and  sailed  across  the  narrow  sea 
to  the  coast  of  that  portion  of  Central  America  we  now 
call  Panama. 

Balboa  established  a  rendezvous  and  base  of  supplies 


THE   PANAMA    CANAL 


and  operations  on  the  coast,  and  thence  continued  his 
journey  inland,  and  on  the  23rd  of  September,  1513,  sur- 
mounted the  heights  of  Darien,  and  from  that  eminence  be- 
held the  expansive  stretches  of  watery  waste  known  today 
as  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Balboa,  continuing  his  explorations 
along  the  coasts  of  Panama,  soon  discovered  that  the  land 
was  not  an  island,  but  a  continent,  and  becoming  acquaint- 
ed with  the  Indians  who  inhabited  the  country,  he  learned 
that  there  were  two  large  bodies  connected  by  a  smaller 
body. 

Balboa  understood  this  statement  to  mean  two  large 
bodies  of  water  connected  by  a  smaller  body  of  water,  and 
therefore,  naturally  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Indians 
meant  that  the  Pacific  and  the  Atlantic  Oceans  were  con- 
nected at  some  point  or  other  along  the  isthmus  by  a  natural 
water-way.  What  the  Indians  really  meant  was  that  there 
were  two  large  bodies  of  land,  to  the  north  and  south,  and 
that  these  large  bodies  were  connected  by  a  long,  narrow 
strip  of  land,  part  of  which  he  was  then  exploring. 

The  Spaniards,  naturally  eager  to  extend  their  explora- 
tions into  the  great  western  ocean,  began  to  search  for  the 
connecting  water-way,  and  this  quest  was  continued  by 
them  for  nearly  half  a  century;  but  they  finally  realized 
that  the  two  great  oceans  of  the  world  were  separated  by 
the  impassable  barrier  of  a  continuous  chain  of  mountain- 
ous land.  The  conquerer  of  Mexico,  Cortez,  after  finishing 
the  subjugation  of  the  Indians  of  that  part  of  the  Spanish 
possessions,  in  1526,  was  commanded  by  the  King  of  Spain 
to  proceed  to  the  Isthmus  and  to  assist  in  the  search  for 
the  secret  water-way. 

Cortez  answered  the  command  of  the  King  by  saying 
that  if  he  could  not  find  the  natural  water-way  he  would 
proceed  to  make  one.  The  brave  old  soldier,  all  his  life 


THE   PANAMA    CANAL 


trained  in  the  habit  of  surmounting  great  difficulties,  de- 
clared that  if  there  were  obstacles  and  mountains,  there 
were  also  men  with  brains  and  hands,  and  that  if  he  could 
not  find  the  water-way  as  commanded  by  the  King,  he 
would  carry  out  the  order  by  constructing  a  canal  to  con- 
nect the  two  oceans.  And  so,  the  idea  of  Columbus  being 
to  find  a  short  water-route  between  Europe  and  the  East 
Indies  and  coasts  of  Asia,  by  the  completion  of  the  Panama 
Canal,  the  United  States  is  carrying  out  the  original  pur- 
pose of  efforts  of  the  discoverer  of  America  and  the  orders 
of  the  King  of  Spain  to  Cortez,  to  make  an  artificial  water- 
way which  will  shorten  the  lines  of  trade  and  commerce 
around  the  globe. 

Between  those  early  days  and  the  present  time  every 
great  maritime  nation  of  the  world  has  been  interested  in 
isthmian  canal  construction — Spain,  Portugal,  Holland,  Ger- 
many, France,  Great  Britain  and  Italy  have  all,  at  one  time 
or  another  in  the  intervening  years,  considered  the  ad- 
visability and  feasibility  of  constructing  a  canal  somewhere 
across  the  narrow  territory  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pa- 
cific. 

Nine  Different  Routes  Proposed 

In  all,  nine  routes  have  been  surveyed  or  considered  by 
some  nation  or  some  company.  The  first  route  to  the  north 
is  known  as  the  Tehuantepec  route,  which  extends  across 
Mexico  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  a 
distance  of  nearly  200  miles,  and  over  which  route  an  Eng- 
lish syndicate,  headed  by  the  Pearsons,  is  now  operating 
a  splendid  railroad  system.  Captain  Eads,  one  of  the  most 
prominent  of  American  engineers  of  his  time,  advocated 
the  building  of  a  ship  railway  over  this  route,  a  railway 


6  THE   PANAMA    CANAL 


so  constructed  that  cars  could  be  let  down  into  the  water 
under  the  bottoms  of  ships,  drawing  them  out  of  the  water 
and  across  the  land  to  the  ocean  on  the  other  side. 

Of  course,  this  project  might  have  been  feasible  with  the 
smaller  sized  merchant  ships  of  forty  years  ago,  but  it 
would  hardly  be  so  for  transporting  the  gigantic  freighters 
and  passenger  vessels  that  now  traverse  the  seas. 

The  second  route,  towards  the  south,  was  called  the 
Honduras  Bay  route,  a  route  across  the  Republic  of  Hon- 
duras from  Honduras  Bay  on  the  east  to  the  Pacific. 

The  third  route  came  to  be  known  as  the  Nicaraguan 
route.  For  a  long  time  this  was  the  most  popular  of  all 
the  routes  with  the  American  Congress  and  the  American 
people.  The  Nicaraguan  route  contemplated  the  utilization 
of  the  San  Juan  River  on  the  east,  between  the  Atlantic 
Coast  and  the  Nicaraguan  lakes,  the  Nicaraguan  lakes  as 
far  as  they  extended  westward,  and  thence  through  a  canal 
across  the  dividing  land  from  the  upper  lake  to  Nicaragua 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean  at  Brita.  The  Nicaraguan  route  wrould 
be  377  miles  shorter  between  San  Francisco  and  New  York 
than  is  the  Panama  route,  along  which  the  United  States 
is  now  constructing  a  canal. 

A  fourth  route  was  surveyed  between  the  Chirique  La- 
goon on  the  eastern  side  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

The  Isthmian  Routes 

Three  routes  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  have  been 
surveyed  and  considered — two  besides  the  one  which  the 
United  States  is  now  utilizing;  and  farther  south  two  pos- 
sible canal  routes  have  been  surveyed  across  the  territory 
of  Colombia.  The  two  southern  routes  would  use  the  At- 
ranto  River  as  a  part  of  their  course,  and  from  that  river 


THE   PANAMA    CANAL 


across  to  the  separating  lands  an  excavation  would  be  re- 
quired. 

Of  these  nine  routes  only  three  have  been  seriously 
contemplated  by  the  engineers  of  the  various  governments 
and  companies  who  have  examined  them.  The  three  are 
the  Tehuantepec,  the  Nicaraguan,  and  the  Panama  Canal 
route. 

In  the  year  1800  all  South  American  territory,  with  the 
exception  of  Brazil  and  a  few  colonies,  was  under  the 
sovereignty  of  Spain,  but  about  the  year  1811  a  series  of 
revolutions  broke  out  in  various  parts  of  Central  and  South 
America,  having  for  their  object  the  establishment  of  in- 
dependent republics,  and  by  1823  all  Central  and  South 
American  countries  had  achieved  independence.  The  prov- 
ince of  Panama  secured  her  independence  in  the  year  1823, 
maintained  that  independence  for  a  short  time  and  then 
merged  with  the  Republic  of  New  Granda. 

Panama  remained  a  part  of  New  Granda  for  several 
years,  and  then  became  a  part  of  the  New  Granadan  and 
Colombian  confederacy,  and  continued  to  be  a  part' of  that 
confederacy  through  various  vicissitudes  of  fortune  and 
misfortune  arising  out  of  revolutions  and  war  until  Novem- 
ber 3,  1903,  when  she  seceded  from  the  Colombian  confeder- 
acy, hoisted  her  old  flag,  and  resumed  her  ancient  nation- 
ality. 

In  1825,  the  South  and  Central  American  Republics,  de- 
siring to  bring  themselves  into  closer  relations  and  sym- 
pathy so  that  trade  and  commerce  and  industry  might  be 
better  developed,  conceived  the  idea  of  holding  a  convention 
in  the  City  of  Panama,  in  the  year  1826.  The  United  States 
Government  was  invited  to  participate  and  take  a  prominent 
part  in  that  convention,  and  in  order  to  induce  the  President 
of  the  United  States  to  send  his  representatives,  the  sub- 


8  THE   PANAMA    CANAL 


ject  of  canal  construction  across  the  Isthmus  was  to  be  one 
of  the  most  prominent  subjects  considered. 

Henry  Clay,  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States 
at  that  time,  was  at  first  very  eager  to  participate  in  the 
Pan-American  convention,  but  was  prevented  by  objections 
of  the  President  from  sending  representatives  to  Panama. 
However,  he  sent  a  note  of  felicitation  and  encouragement 
and  promised  the  support  of  the  United  States  in  any  mu- 
tual project  that  would  be  to  the  advantage  of  all  the  coun- 
tries, and  particularly  pledged  that  support  to  any  feasible 
project  of  canal  construction.  This  was  the  first  official 
interest  taken  by  the  United  States  in  the  construction  of 
an  Isthmian  Canal. 

Like  nearly  all  conventions,  the  one  that  was  held  in 
Panama  in  1826  met  and  resoluted  a  great  deal  and  in- 
dulged in  much  oratory,  but  adjourned  without  accomplish- 
ing very  much  of  practical  value.  However,  a  congress 
composed  of  representatives  of  several  of  the  South  and 
Central  American  States  authorized  the  construction  of 
an  Isthmian  Canal,  and  actually  went  so  far  as  to  enter 
into  negotiations  with  a  prominent  engineer  for  the  purpose 
of  having  one  constructed,  at  some  point  to  be  decided  upon 
later;  but  owing  to  revolutions  and  disorders  soon  after 
developing,  plans  for  the  project  were  for  the  time  aban- 
doned. 

In  1837  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  authorized 
canal  surveys  to  be  made  and  a  commission  was  appointed 
for  the  purpose  of  surveying  and  exploring  the  Central 
American  country  so  that  data  might  be  secured  that  would 
give  the  American  Congress  information  as  to  the  practica- 
bility of  the  different  routes  that  might  be  utilized.  From 
that  time  on,  until  today,  the  subject  of  Panama  Canal  con- 


THE   PANAMA    CANAL 


struction  has  been  almost  constantly  before  the  American 
Congress. 

Of  course,  action  in  that  body  was  more  or  less  sporadic. 
The  subject  would  be  taken  up  from  time  to  time  when 
some  pressing  need  for  quicker  and  cheaper  transporta- 
tion to  the  Pacific  Coast  made  itself  apparent. 

In  1846  the  United  States  entered  into  war  with  Mexico, 
which  engaged  the  energies  of  the  nation  for  the  time 
being  and  canal  legislation  was  forgotten.  After  the  war 
with  Mexico  came  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California,  and 
the  rush  of  the  argonauts  to  the  Golden  State  made  it 
necessary  that  quicker  and  cheaper  routes  be  established 
than  those  around  Cape  Horn  by  water,  or  the  long  trail 
over  the  plains  and  mountains  to  the  Pacific  Slope.  A  com- 
pany was  organized  in  New  York  which  established  a  line 
of  transportation  by  means  of  steamers  from  New  York 
to  Greytown,  thence  through  the  San  Juan  River  to  the 
lakes  of  Nicaragua,  and  thence  by  the  stage  lines  to  the 
Pacific  Coast,  where  again  vessels  were  taken  for  San 
Francisco  Bay  and  for  the  coasts  of  Oregon  and  Puget 
Sound. 

The  Panama  Railroad 

About  the  same  time  a  railway  company  was  formed  in 
the  United  States  which  secured  a  concession  from  the  Re- 
public of  Colombia  for  the  purpose  of  constructing  the  rail- 
way system  across  the  Isthmus,  which  is  now  known  as  the 
Panama  Railroad.  This  railroad  was  completed  in  1856, 
and  this  addition  to  the  means  of  transportation  to  the 
Pacific  Coast  again  indefinitely  postponed  the  necessity 
for  canal  construction. 

In   1861  the  United  States  drifted  into  the  Civil  War, 


10  THE   PANAMA    CANAL 


and  once  more  the  subject  of  canal  construction  was  for- 
gotten. After  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  the  transconti- 
nental railroads,  headed  by  the  Union  and  Central  Pacific 
Companies,  pushed  their  lines  westward  until  they  reached 
the  Pacific  Coast,  and  as  soon  as  the  first  railroad  had 
crossed  the  continent  active  opposition  to  canal  constru- 
tion  began  to  show  itself  in  the  American  Congress. 

The  transcontinental  railroads,  fearing  opposition  in 
transportation,  from  that  day  until  the  Spooner  bill  was 
passed,  June  28,  1902,  maintained  an  active  lobby  at 
Washington,  and  whenever  canal  legislation  was  suggested, 
having  for  its  object  the  construction  of  an  Isthmian  Canal 
at  any  point,  this  railroad  opposition  manifested  itself  in 
every  form,  and  no  doubt  canal  construction  by  the  United 
States  was  postponed  for  many  years  by  that  agency. 

However,  in  1889,  Congress  authorized  the  incorpora- 
tion of  a  company  known  as  the  Maritime  Canal  Company 
of  the  United  States,  and  under  that  authority  Hiram  Hitch- 
cock, of  New  York,  as  president,  together  with  Warner 
Miller  and  several  other  capitalists,  proceeded  to  raise  about 
six  million  dollars,  which  was  actually  used  in  obtaining 
franchises  and  concessions  from  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua 
for  a  canal  route  through  these  countries.  Some  money 
was  also  spent  in  doing  necessary  preliminary  work. 

The  Maritime  Canal  Company  was  a  favorite  in  the 
United  States  for  a  great  many  years,  principally  because 
it  was  championed  by  Senator  J.  T.  Morgan,  of  Alabama. 
Senator  Morgan  made  this  the  dearest  project  of  his  later 
life,  and  no  doubt  his  last  years  of  public  service  were  em- 
bittered by  his  failure  to  secure  Government  co-operation 
for  the  building  of  the  canal  through  Nicaraguan  territory. 


THE   PANAMA    CANAL  11 


The  French  Company 

In  the  meantime  Count  Ferdinand  de  Lesseps,  the  bril- 
liant and  successful  French  engineer,  having  completed  the 
Suez  Canal,  turned  his  attention  to  the  Isthmian  country. 
After  a  thorough  investigation  of  all  the  possible  routes, 
through  a  series  of  negotiations,  he  succeeded  in  securing 
a  franchise  from  the  Republic  of  Colombia,  giving  him 
authority  to  organize  a  French  company  and  the  right  to 
construct  a  canal  between  the  little  city  of  Aspinwall  (now 
known  as  Colon)  on  the  eastern  side,  and  the  City  of  Pan- 
ama on  the  Western  side. 

So  great  was  the  popularity  of  de  Lesseps  that  he  had 
no  difficulty  in  forming  a  strong  company  in  France.  The 
stocks  offered  to  the  French  public  were  subscribed  for 
rapidly.  The  French  are  a  frugal  people,  and  even  the 
poorest  of  the  French  peasants  and  working  men  have 
always  a  little  hoard  of  savings.  The  French  people  had 
such  confidence  in  de  Lesseps'  ability  to  complete  success- 
fully his  great  American  enterprise  that  the  first  issue  of 
his  stocks  wrere  taken  almost  at  par. 

De  Lesseps'  Plan 

De  Lesseps'  plan  contemplated  the  building  of  a  sea- 
level  canal,  42  miles  in  length,  from  shore  to  shore,  100 
feet  wide  and  28  feet  deep.  His  authority  from  the  Co- 
lombian Government  amounted  to  merely  a  right  to  ex- 
cavate the  canal,  the  Colombian  Government  retaining  juris- 
diction over  the  soil  and  the  people.  The  estimate  of  the 
cost  of  the  type  of  canal  proposed  was  fixed  by  the  French 
company  at  $120,000,000.  The  work  of  construction  was 
inaugurated  on  February  1,  1881,  with  ceremony  by  the 


12  THE  PANAMA    CANAL 


officers  of  the  French  company,  and  was  participated  in 
by  officials  of  France,  Panama  and  Colombia.  But  within 
a  very  short  time,  owing  to  the  magnitude  of  the  scale  of 
operations,  coupled  with  wasteful  business  methods,  the 
first  fund  of  $120,000,000  was  expended. 

The  company  put  out  a  second  issue  of  stock  which  they 
offered  to  the  people  of  France  as  the  first  issue  had  been 
offered.  This  second  issue  was  taken  up  as  the  first  had 
been,  but  with  some  suspicion  on  the  part  of  the  buyers. 
The  second  issue  sold  at  a  considerable  discount;  still  they 
found  purchasers,  and  again  the  coffers  of  the  company 
were  supplied  with  cash. 

But  the  wastefulness  and  extravagance  of  the  company 
continuing,  the  proceeds  from  the  second  issue  of  stock 
were  soon  exhausted  and  a  third  issue  was  offered.  The 
sale  of  the  third  issue  was  made  with  a  great  deal  of  diffi- 
culty, and  premiums  were  given  to  prominent  men  of  in- 
fluence or  authority,  or  any  line  of  business,  providing  they 
would  use  that  influence  in  the  marketing  of  the  company's 
shares.  So  flagrant  did  these  irregularities  become  that 
they  culminated  in  criminal  prosecutions. 

The  sum  total  of  the  capital  stock  subscribed  to  by  the 
buyers  of  the  French  Panama  Company's  shares  was  $393,- 
505,100.  This  great  volume  of  stock  sold  to  the  purchasers 
produced  for  the  company  only  $201,546,740,  the  difference 
of  $191,958,360  being  lost  in  discounts  and  premiums  paid 
in  marketing  the  stock. 

Wastefulness  of  the  French  Company 

This  appalling  exhibition  of  criminal  wastefulness  and 
unlawful  business  methods  caused  the  utter  collapse,  of  con- 
fidence in  the  success  of  the  enterprise,  not  only  of  the  in- 


THE   PANAMA    CANAL  13 


vesting  public  of  France,  but  of  the  world  as  well,  and  has- 
tened the  time  when  such  methods  must  reach  their  logical 
conclusion  in  bankruptcy.  The  old  timers  on  the  Isthmus 
will  tell  the  inquirer  that  of  the  enormous  sum  of  money 
raised  by  the  French  Canal  Company,  one-third  was  wasted, 
one-third  grafted  and  one  third  probably  used  in  actual 
work. 

It  seemed  as  if  anyone  who  had  any  sort  of  influence 
might  sell  that  influence  to  the  Panama  company  for  some 
kind  of  a  consideration.  On  the  Isthmus  today  they  will 
show  you  a  storehouse  containing  about  half  a  ship's  cargo 
of  snow  shovels  which  a  manufacturing  company  in  France 
succeeded  in  selling  to  the  French  Panama  Company,  no 
doubt  in  return  for  the  influence  they  might  be  able  to  give 
in  assisting  in  the  sale  of  the  French  Panama  Company's 
stocks.  Of  course,  one  can  easily  see  the  ridiculous  side 
of  the  purchase  of  half  a  cargo  of  snow  shovels  to  be  used 
in  the  tropics. 

Practical  bankruptcy  came  in  the  year  1889,  and  from 
that  time  on  the  French  Canal  Company  simply  held  its 
franchise  and  concessions  from  the  Republic  of  Colombia 
for  speculative  purposes  only.  Then  the  officers  of  the 
French  company,  seeing  that  the  United  States  Congress 
was  beginning  to  take  a  lively  interest  in  canal  construction, 
and  was  showing  signs  of  a  disposition  to  pass  legislation 
that  would  commit  the  United  States  as  a  Nation  to  the 
building  of  a  canal,  began  to  look  toward  the  United  States 
as  a  prospective  customer  for  their  uncompleted  canal  pro- 
ject at  Panama.  In  the  meantime  the  Nicaraguan  company 
had  gone  upon  the  rocks  of  bankruptcy,  and  they,  too,  were 
offering  their  concessions  and  franchises  to  the  American 
Government.  And  so  with  these  two  propositions  before 


14  THE   PANAMA    CANAL 


Congress,  time  drifted  on  to  the  opening  of  the  war  be- 
tween our  country  and  Spain. 

When  the  Spanish  war  was  declared,  it  was  reported  in 
the  United  States  that  a  Spanish  fleet  was  cruising  in 
Asiatic  waters.  Of  course,  it  was  not  known  how  strong 
that  fleet  might  be.  There  was  no  way  of  knowing  whether 
or  not  it  would  be  able  to  cross  the  Pacific  and  take  San 
Francisco  or  some  of  the  other  cities  or  ports  of  the  western 
coast  of  the  United  States.  So  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
ordered  the  crack  battleship  of  the  navy,  the  "Oregon,"  to 
maintain  her  station  in  San  Francisco  Bay  with  steam  up, 
prepared  to  go  into  action  at  any  moment. 

Significance  of  the  "Oregon's"  Course 

Everyone  who  lived  around  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco 
in  those  days  remembers  what  relief  the  news  in  the  papers 
brought  on  a  bright  May  morning  that  Admiral  Dewey,  in 
response  to  an  order  from  Secretary  J.  D.  Long  had  pro- 
ceeded to  Manila  and  destroyed  the  Spanish  fleet.  This 
meant  there  was  no  longer  any  danger  of  the  bombardment 
of  San  Francisco. 

There  was  no  longer  any  necessity  for  holding  the  "Ore- 
gon" in  Pacific  waters,  and  so  quickly  followed  the  order 
from  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  that  she  should  at  once 
take  her  departure  to  the  coasts  of  Cuba  and  join  the  Ameri- 
can squadron  operating  there.  The  citizens  of  San  Fran- 
cisco swarmed  the  hilltops  to  see  the  departure  of  their  fa- 
vorite battleship.  She  sailed  majestically  out  through  the 
Golden  Gate  and  turned  her  prow  southward.  The  patriotic 
hearts  of  the  men  and  women  of  California  followed  her 
course  as  they  read  each  morning  in  the  newspapers  the 
description  of  her  successful  voyage  down  the  western 


THE   PANAMA    CANAL  15 


coasts  of  Mexico  and  Central  America,  on  past  Panama 
and  along  the  coasts  of  South  America,  through  the  Straits 
of  Magellan,  then  to  the  northward  to  her  station  on  the 
coast  of  Cuba.  But  they  noted  that  this  voyage  consumed 
sixty-five  days  of  time. 

Then  the  President,  the  American  Congress,  and  the 
American  people  awoke  to  the  fact  that  if  the  safety  of  the 
cities  of  the  seaboards  of  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  de- 
pended upon  naval  protection,  and  that  if  such  a  long 
voyage  would  have  to  be  taken  by  ships  stationed  upon  the, 
opposite  coast,  it  might  mean  the  destruction  of  incalculable 
wealth. 

The  entire  Nation  began  to  realize  that  if  the  "Oregon" 
could  have  sailed  from  San  Francisco  to  Panama  and  pass- 
ed through  the  isthmus  by  means  of  a  canal  such  as  we 
are  now  constructing,  she  could  have  made  the  voyage  from 
San  Francisco  to  the  coasts  of  Cuba,  consuming  three  days 
at  Colon  or  Panama  to  take  on  stores  and  ammunition,  and 
still  could  have  been  at  her  station  on  the  coasts  of  Cuba  in 
sixteen  days'  time.  The  people  of  the  country  began  to 
realize  that  the  difference  between  sixteen  and  sixty-five 
days  might  mean  the  safety  of  the  Nation,  and  especially  so 
if  we  were  at  war  with  a  maritime  power  such  as  Great 
Britain,  Germany  and  Japan. 

This  startling  demonstration  of  the  absolute  necessity 
for  a  Panama  Canal  from  the  standpoint  of  American 
national  safety,  at  once  swept  aside  all  opposition  at  Wash- 
ington to  canal  construction.  Immediately  a  universal 
wave  of  sentiment  in  favor  of  a  national  American  Isthmian 
Canal  swept  over  the  land  and  found  its  expression  in  in- 
structions by  every  constituency  in  the  Union  to  Congress- 
men and  to  Senators  to  do  all  in  their  power  to  assist  in 
bringing  canal  legislation  to  a  successful  termination. 


16  THE   PANAMA    CANAL 


The  Canal  Commission 

Immediately  thereafter  President  William  McKinley 
was  authorized  by  Congress  to  send  a  commission  to  Pan- 
ama and  Nicaragua  to  examine  those  two  routes  and  to 
receive  offers  from  the  different  companies  as  to  the 
amounts  the  different  projects  could  be  purchased  for. 

The  result  of  the  investigations  of  the  commission  was 
that  the  Panamanian  Company  offered  their  uncompleted 
canal,  their  franchises,  their  plans  and  specifications,  the 
Panama  Railroad,  which  was  worth  about  $12,000,000,  and 
a  line  of  steamships  from  Colon  to  New  York,  consisting 
of  five  medium-sized  steel  vessels  of  modern  construction, 
for  the  sum  of  $110,000,000.  The  Nicaraguan  Company 
offered  their  concessions  from  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua, 
in  addition  to  all  their  other  property,  for  $6,000,000.  They 
simply  desired  to  be  reimbursed  for  the  amounts  spent  in 
securing  their  concessions  and  making  their  preliminary 
surveys. 

After  careful  consideration  the  commission  recommend- 
ed the  purchase  of  the  Nicaraguan  proposition.  It  was  at 
this  critical  state  of  the  negotiations  that  President  Mc- 
Kinley was  removed  by  the  bloody  hand  of  the  assassin,  and 
as  a  result  Vice-President  Roosevelt  took  his  place  as  the 
head  of  the  American  Government.  President  Roosevelt  de- 
cided on  the  Nicaraguan  proposition ;  but  before  the  matter 
was  closed  the  French  Panama  Company  came  fully  to  the 
realization  that  if  the  United  States  purchased  the  conces- 
sions of  the  Maritime  Canal  Company  and  began  the  con- 
struction of  a  canal  through  the  Nicaraguan  territory,  with- 
out any  question  that  project  would  be  completed  in  a 
reasonably  short  space  of  time,  as  it  would  have  the  power 
of  the  entire  American  Government  behind  it. 


BONEYARD    OF    THE    OLD    FRENCH     MACHINERY. 


THE   PANAMA    CANAL  17 


They  also  realized  that  if  the  Nicaragua  Canal  was  con- 
structed it  would  probably  make  their  holdings  in  Panama 
of  far  less  value ;  and  as  they  were  practically  bankrupt  then, 
they  begged  an  opportunity  to  submit  a  lower  price  for 
their  property.  This  opportunity  was  granted,  and  the 
result  was  that  the  French  company  offered  their  franchises 
?nd  holdings,  including  the  railroad  and  the  steamship  line, 
for  the  sum  of  $40,000,000. 

This  amount  was  so  much  lower  than  the  amount  orig- 
inally demanded  that  it  caused  a  reconsideration  by  the 
President  and  Congress,  which  terminated  in  the  decision 
of  the  President  and  Congress  to  purchase  the  rights  and 
the  property  of  the  French  Company. 

The  next  step  was  to  ascertain  whether  or  not  the 
French  company  could  convey  a  valid  title  to  the  United 
States,  and  Attorney-General  Knox  was  instructed  to  go  to 
France  and  consult  with  the  proper  French  authorities  and 
determine  if  such  a  legal  conveyance  could  be  made.  As  a 
result  of  his  investigations,  General  Knox  on  October  30, 
1902,  decided  that  the  French  company  could  convey  an 
absolute  title  to  the  American  Government. 

A  great  nation  such  as  the  United  States  could  not  con- 
template becoming  the  tenant  of  any  other  country  under 
the  sun,  much  less  a  feeble  republic  of  Central  America. 
The  dignity  of  the  United  States  required  absolute  sover- 
eignty over  any  territory  through  which  the  American 
Nation  might  decide  to  construct  an  isthmian  canal.  Abso- 
lute sovereignty  over  an  isthmian  canal,  however,  on  the 
part  of  the  United  States  had  been  waived  by  the  terms  of 
the  Clay  ton- Bui  wer  treaty  entered  into  with  Great  Britain 
a  half  century  before.  The  terms  of  this  treaty  provided 
that  in  case  either  nation  should  construct  an  isthmian 
canal,  such  canal  should  not  be  fortified  nor  controlled  by 


18  THE   PANAMA    CANAL 


cither  power;  and  that  should  any  other  nation  construct 
an  isthmian  canal,  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain 
should  join  in  preserving  its  neutrality. 

Before  the  United  States  could  exercise  absolute  sov- 
ereignty over  any  strip  of  territory  across  the  isthmus,  the 
Clayton-Bulwer  treaty  would  have  to  be  abrogated,  and  to 
accomplish  this  Secretary  of  State  Hay  entered  into  nego- 
tiations with  Great  Britain.  He  found  the  representatives 
of  that  country  very  willing  to  meet  every  reasonable  de- 
mand. After  a  short  series  of  negotiations  he  succeeded 
in  having  passed  and  ratified  by  both  countries  the  Hay- 
Pauncefort  treaty.  Under  the  terms  of  this  treaty  Great 
Britain  waived  all  claims  to  sovereignty  and  control  over  an 
Isthmian  Canal,  and  substantially  agreed  to  the  jurisdiction 
and  control  of  the  United  States  over  any  canal  that  might 
be  constructed  by  that  country. 

Acquirement  of  the  Canal  Zone 

\Yhen  this  obstacle  was  removed  the  next  step  was  to 
secure  a  canal  zone,  and  the  United  States  entered  into 
negotiations  with  the  Government  of  Colombia  with 
that  end  in  view.  The  result  of  the  negotiations 
was  that  an  agreement  was  reached  by  which  the  Re- 
public of  Colombia  agreed  to  convey  to  the  United  States  a 
strip  of  land  thirty  miles  wide  and  extending  a  marine 
league  into  the  waters  on  either  side  of  the  isthmus.  The 
terms  of  the  treaty  were  that  the  United  States,  in  consider- 
ation of  the  zone  proposed  to  be  transferred,  should  pay  to 
the  Republic  of  Colombia  ten  million  dollars  in  cash  on  the 
ratification  of  the  treaty  by  the  separate  governments,  and 
commencing  nine  years  from  the  date  of  ratification,  the 
sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year  for  all  time. 


THE   PANAMA    CANAL  19 


This  tentative  treaty  found  great  favor  in  Washington,  D. 
C.,  and  was  immediately  ratified  by  the  American  Senate, 
and  then  sent  back  to  Bogata  for  ratification  by  the  Colom- 
bian authorities.  But  much  to  the  astonishment  and  chagrin 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  to  the  extreme  dis- 
appointment of  the  people  and  the  authorities  of  Panama, 
this  so-called  Hay-Herran  treaty  was  refused  ratification  by 
the  Colombian  Senate. 

The  refusal  of  this  ratification  ultimately  led  to  the  seces- 
sion of  Panama  from  its  allegiance  to  the  Republic  of  Co- 
lombia and  the  acquirement  of  independence. 

While  on  the  Canal  Zone  in  1907  on  an  official  visit  I 
came  into  close  contact  with  the  officials  of  Panama,  par- 
ticularly President  Amador,  the  first  President  of  the  Pana- 
ma Republic,  and  General  Arrias,  who  held  the  combined 
offices  of  Secretary  of  State  and  \Var  for  the  new  republic. 

At  a  dinner  given  by  the  American  Minister,  being  plac- 
ed beside  General  Arrias,  I  took  occasion  to  inquire  of  him 
the  reasons  why  the  Hay-Herran  treaty  was  refused  rati- 
fication by  the  Senate  of  Colombia,  after  it  had  been  tenta- 
tively agreed  to  by  the  Colombian  authorities. 

General  Arrias'  explanation  was  to  the  effect  that  there 
were  four  reasons  why  the  Hay-Herran  treaty  was  refused 
ratification  on  its  return  to  the  Colombian  Senate.  The 
first  was  that  the  German  influence  was  strong  in  Colombia, 
and  the  German  merchants  and  diplomats  were  very  much 
opposed  to  the  extension  of  American  influence  down  the 
west  coast  of  South  America,  particularly  in  the  Colombian 
Republic.  The  German  merchants,  seeing  the  collapse  of 
the  French  Canal  Company  near  at  hand,  hoped  that  a 
German  company  might  purchase  the  wreck  of  the  French 
enterprise  and  carry  the  canal  to  completion,  realizing  that 


20  THE   PANAMA    CANAL 


this  course  would  mean  much  in  the  way  of  German  ag- 
grandizement. 

The  second  influence,  according  to  General  Arrias,  was 
that  of  the  old  transcontinental  railroad  management  of  the 
United  States.  Popular  demand  for  an  isthmian  canal  hav- 
ing swept  away  all  obstruction  at  Washington,  D.  C,  the 
scene  of  operations  was  shifted  to  Bogata,  and  railroad  in- 
fluence and  railroad  money  were  probably  used  to  induce 
some  of  the  Senators  to  refuse  to  vote  for  the  ratification 
of  the  treaty. 

The  third  influence  was  that  of  patriotism.  Some  of  the 
Colombian  Senators  were  opposed  to  a  transfer  of  any 
portion  of  Colombian  soil  to  a  foreign  power,  more  espe- 
cially as  the  Colombian  constitution  contained  a  clause 
making  it  treason  for  any  Colombian  subject  to  become  a 
party  to  the  alienation  of  any  part  of  Colombian  territory  to 
another  country. 

The  fourth  and  the  most  potent  influence  was  the  fact 
that  the  French  Panama  Canal  Company  had  failed  in  every 
respect  to  keep  the  terms  of  their  contract  with  the  Colom- 
bian Government.  Not  only  had  they  failed  to  complete 
the  canal  at  the  time  specified  in  their  franchise,  but  having 
obtained  an  extension  of  that  time,  had  failed  to  observe 
the  terms  by  which  the  extension  had  been  secured. 

Therefore  the  Colombian  Government  might  very  prop- 
erly proceed  to  a  forfeiture,  which  could  be  obtained  through 
due  process  of  law  in  something  less  than  ten  months'  time. 

Many  of  the  Colombian  Senators  took  the  position  that 
it  would  be  lawful  and  more  expedient  to  declare  a  for- 
feiture upon  the  French  company,  and  take  over  the  canal 
under  the  terms  of  such  forfeiture  as  provided  by  the  fran- 
chise. The  Republic  of  Colombia  would  then  be  in  a  posi- 
tion to  sell  the  same  to  the  American  Government  for  forty 


THE   PANAMA    CANAL  21 


million  dollars,  and  since  then  they  would  secure  ten  million 
dollars  for  a  zone  and  a  perpetual  rental  of  a  large  sum  an- 
nually, the  financial  condition  of  the  country  would  be  very 
much  improved.  As  the  finances  of  the  Republic  of  Colom- 
bia were  at  that  time  in  a  desperately  depleted  condition, 
this  prospect  of  their  rehabilitation  must  have  had  powerful 
effect  with  many  of  the  Senators. 

These  four  reasons  operating,  no  doubt  caused  the 
Colombian  Senate  to  refuse  ratification  to  the  Hay-Herran 
treaty. 

But  in  Panama  the  people  and  the  authorities  were  de- 
termined not  to  submit  to  the  action  of  the  Colombian 
Senate  The  Panamanians  were  aware  of  the  fact  that  the 
President  of  the  United  States  had  been  authorized  by  Con- 
gress to  make  a  choice  between  either  the  French  Panama 
or  the  Xicaraguan  route,  and  that  under  that  authority  he 
would  at  once  proceed  to  close  a  contract  with  the  Maritime 
Canal  Company  of  Nicaragua  if  he  could  not  secure  a  canal 
zone.  They  also  realized  that  if  once  the  American  Gov- 
ernment began  the  work  of  excavating  a  canal  through 
Xicaraguan  and  Costa  Rican  territory,  in  all  human  prob- 
ability, the  French  Panama  Company's  project  would  be 
abandoned. 

Thus  the  cities  of  Colon  and  Panama,  and  the  territory 
surrounding,  would  be  relegated  to  obscurity  so  far  as 
world's  trade  was  concerned,  for  many  years.  This  the 
Panamanians  were  determined  to  prevent  if  possible,  so 
they  took  every  step  necessary  to  inaugurate  and  success- 
fully carry  out  a  revolution  in  case  of  the  refusal  of  the 
Colombian  Government  to  ratify  the  Hay-Herran  treaty. 
They  sent  Dr.  Varilla  as  their  representative  to  New  York 
and  instructed  him  to  remain  in  close  touch  with  the  cable, 
and  should  he  receive  a  cablegram  that  Panama  had  thrown 


22  THE   PANAMA    CANAL 


off  her  allegiance  to  Colombia  and  had  resumed  her  old- 
time  independence,  he  should  proceed  at  once  to  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  notify  President  Roosevelt  of  the  fact,  demand 
recognition  of  the  new  Republic  of  Panama  as  an  inde- 
pendent power,  and  enter  at  once  into  negotiations  with  the 
United  States  for  the  recognition  of  that  independence  and 
the  transfer  of  a  canal  zone. 

The  New  Republic  of  Panama 

This  program  was  carried  out  later  on.  The  Pan- 
amanians had  very  little  trouble  in  overawing  the  few  Co- 
lombian officers  within  their  territory.  They  knew  that  the 
Colombian  Government  had  no  navy,  from  the  fact  that  a 
year  before  the  Colombian  navy  had  been  sent  to  the  City 
of  Panama  to  coerce  the  authorities  there  who  were  disput- 
ing with  the  Colombian  Government  over  some  items  of 
revenue  which  were  an  issue ;  and  meeting  force  with  force 
the  authorities  of  the  City  of  Panama  had  succeeded,  with 
the  assistance  of  a  small  tug-boat  and  one  piece  of  cannon, 
in  sweeping  the  seas  of  the  entire  Colombian  naval  power, 
and  as  evidence  of  their  success  the  two  masts  of  the  Colom- 
bian navy  were  sticking  up  out  of  the  mud-banks  of  Panama 
Bay. 

Nor  were  the  inhabitants  of  Panama  or  Colon  much  con- 
cerned as  to  a  possible  attack  from  a  Colombian  army.  That 
would  entail  a  long  march  of  hundreds  of  miles  through 
morass  and  jungle,  and  could  not  be  successfully  accom- 
plished in  less  than  a  years  time.  And  so  the  Panamanians 
v/ere  free  to  act  in  their  purposes  of  securing  independence 
without  danger  of  very  much  interference  from  the  home 
government. 

The  result  of  the  revolution  was  very  gratifying  to  the 


THE   PANAMA    CANAL  23 


Panamanians.  As  soon  as  they  learned  that  the  treaty  had 
been  refused  ratification,  they  immediately  wired  to  Dr. 
Varilla  at  New  York.  He  apparently  was  at  his  post  wait- 
ing the  news,  for  it  was  whispered  in  Washington  that  he 
took  the  night  train  from  New  York,  reached  Washington 
in  the  morning,  and  arrived  at  the  White  House  early  in  the 
forenoon.  And  from  all  indications  President  Roosevelt 
must  have  been  waiting  just  inside  the  door  to  receive  him, 
for  it  is  said  that  the  President  was  on  hand  to  grasp  Dr. 
Yarilla  by  the  hand  and  welcome  him  to  the  White  House, 
and  that  when  he  came  out  two  hours  later,  Panama  was 
virtually  recognized  as  an  independent  government.  Within 
a  few  days  a  treaty  was  negotiated  between  Panama  and 
the  United  States. 

Terms  of  the  Treaty 

This  treaty,  called  the  Hay- Varilla  treaty,  was  ratified  in 
December,  1903.  Its  terms  provided  that  the  sum  of  ten 
millions  of  dollars,  be  paid  by  the  United  States  to  the 
Government  of  Panama,  and  the  further  sum  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  dollars  a  year  for  all  time,  com- 
mencing nine  years  after  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  by 
both  countries.  The  Republic  of  the  United  States  was  to 
have  absolute  title  and  sovereignty  to  a  strip  of  land  ten 
miles  wide,  five  miles  on  either  side  of  the  center  of  the 
canal  prism,  extending  from  Colon  to  Panama,  and  three 
miles  out  into  the  water  on  either  side,  but  without  including 
either  of  the  cities  of  Colon  or  Panama  within  its  area. 

This  treaty  further  provided  that  the  United  States 
should  guarantee  the  independence  of  the  Panamanian  Re- 
public, the  terms  being  most  explicit  that  the  United  States 
should  protect  the  Panamanian  Government  from  insur- 
rection within  and  invasion  from  without.  This  little  joker 


24  THE   PANAMA    CANAL 


in  the  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  Panama  makes 
that  little  republic  the  strongest  of  all  the  republics  on  the 
American  continent  next  to  our  own.  In  fact,  the  Republic 
of  Panama  is  as  strong  as  the  United  States,  and  will  be  so 
as  long  as  the  American  flag  floats  in  sovereignty  over  a 
foot  of  American  soil. 

The  treaty  also  provided  that  the  United  States  should 
have  the  privilege  of  sanitizing  the  cities  of  Panama  and 
Colon,  and  that  the  cost  of  the  same  should  be  a  charge 
against  the  Government  of  Panama. 

When  all  obstacles  to  the  acquirement  of  the  zone  were 
removed  under  the  Hay-Varilla  treaty,  the  next  step  on  the 
part  of  the  American  Republic  was  to  begin  the  most  im- 
portant work  of  sanitization. 

Sanitization  of  the  Canal  Zone 

The  sanitization  of  the  Canal  Zone  and  the  cities  of 
Colon  and  Panama  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  features 
of  the  history  of  the  Panama  Canal.  The  want  of  proper 
sanitation  was,  no  doubt,  very  largely  the  cause  of  the 
French  failure. 

s~  The  French  authorities,  either  not  understanding  the 
significance  of  maintaining  the  health  of  the  great  mass  of 
employees  engaged  in  their  work,  or  being  criminally  negli- 
gent of  the  lives  and  the  health  of  their  employees,  failed  to 
take  the  necessary  measures  for  the  protection  of  life  and 
health.  Their  laborers  were  allowed  to  live  in  a  haphazard 
way.  The  negroes  were  permitted  to  furnish  their  own  food 
and  to  sleep  where  they  pleased. 

The  consequence  was  that  the  ignorant  and  the  improvi- 
dent ate  food  that  was  not  properly  prepared,  and  slept  very 
often  in  tents  or  on  the  ground,  subject  to  the  night  dews 
and  miasmatic  vapors  of  the  tropics.  Diseases  of  the  most 


THE    EFFECT    OF    A    BLAST    ALONG    THE    CULEBRA    CUT. 
Upper    Picture — Before;    Lower — After    a    Blast. 


THE   PANAMA    CANAL  25 


virulent  nature  broke  out  in  every  camp,  and  yellow  fever 
became  especially  active  in  carrying  off  its  victims. 

So  with  this  dreadful  experience  as  an  example  and  a 
warning,  the  American  authorities  realized  that  the  first 
work  of  importance  was  that  of  subduing  the  unhealthful 
conditions  of  the  Canal  Zone  so  that  labor  might  be  en- 
gaged in  with  reasonable  safety  by  the  tens  of  thousands  of 
employees  who  would  be  placed  upon  the  line  of  operations 
of  the  canal  when  work  was  actively  commenced. 

Fortunately,  surgeons  of  the  American  army  had  gained 
a  great  deal  of  experience  during  the  Cuban  campaign,  and 
cne  army  surgeon  had  achieved  particular  prominence  in  his 
handling  of  tropical  diseases.  Dr.  W.  C.  Gorgas,  who  had 
campaigned  in  Cuba  and  assisted  General  Leonard  Wood  in 
the  cleaning  up  and  sanitization  of  Santiago  and  Havana, 
was  peculiarly  fitted  for  the  important  work  of  establishing 
healthful  conditions  on  the  Zone. 

Dr.  Gorgas  had  also  had  the  advantage  of  being  a  col- 
laborator as  well  as  a  fellow  officer  of  Dr.  Reed  in 
Cuba.  Dr.  Reed  was  one  of  the  first  army  surgeons  to  be- 
come familiar  with  the  theory  that  the  yellow  fever  and  the 
malarial  fevers  of  the  tropics  were  carried  and  distributed 
through  the  agency  of  mosquitoes.  In  fact,  Dr.  Reed  him- 
self became  a  victim  to  his  desire  for  scientific  knowledge, 
he  having  allowed  himself  to  be  bitten  by  a  mosquito  that 
had  first  filled  itself  with  the  virus  of  a  yellow  fever  patient, 
and  died  as  the  result  of  the  experiment. 

War  on  the  Mosquito 

Dr.  Gorgas  carried  on  the  work  of  the  investigation  and 
development  of  the  mosquito  theory  after  the  death  of  Dr. 
Reed,  and  became  a  recognized  world-wide  authority  on  the 


26  THE   PANAMA    CANAL 


science  of  tropical  diseases  and  sanitation,  when  he  was 
chosen  as  the  officer  to  whom  the  sanitization  of  the  Zone 
should  be  entrusted.  He  was  given  ample  funds  by  the 
American  Government  and  furnished  with  a  force  of  men 
numbering  more  than  2000,  his  theory  being  that  by  the 
destruction  of  the  breeding  places  of  mosquitos  he  could 
finally  eliminate  the  mosquitoes  themselves. 

In  carrying  out  his  plan  the  vegetation  on  either  side 
of  the  canal  for  half  a  mile  was  cut  down  and  burned,  the 
dead  trees  destroyed,  the  low  marshy  places  drained  where 
possible ;  and  where  it  was  impossible  to  successfully  drain 
the  ground  and  water  pools  they  were  covered  with  a 
petroleum  mixture.-  In  fact,  petroleum  was  found  to  be  so 
effective  that  it  came  to  be  the  favorite  means  of  destroying 
the  mosquitoes,  and  one  approaching  Colon  today,  if  the 
wind  is  in  the  right  quarter,  may  catch  the  odor  of  that 
ingredient  one  hundred  miles  at  sea. 

/^Tt  was  found  after  investigation  by  Dr.  Gorgas  that  the 
'  mosquito,  called  the  stegomya,  was  peculiarly  partial  to  the 
yellow  fever  victim,  and  that  after  biting  a  yellow  fever 
patient  and  becoming  inoculated  with  the  poison,  the 
stegomya  became  very  active  in  its  distribution  to  other 
subjects.  A  mosquito  called  the  anophyles,  by  some  pe- 
culiar freak  of  nature,  had  a  like  attraction  for  the  victims 
of  malarial  diseases. 

And  so,  between  the  two  kinds  of  mosquitoes  there 
seemed  to  be  a  rivalry  as  to  which  could  do  the  most  dam- 
age. But  fortunately  neither  one  of  these  pestiferous  in- 
sects could  fly  over  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  and  so  the  theory 
of  Dr.  Gorgas  was  that  by  destroying  their  breeding  places 
and  eliminating  them  from  the  Canal  Zone,  he  might  pre- 
serve the  health  of  the  workers. 

Colon  was  overhauled  by  repaving  the  streets  after  first 


THE   PANAMA    CANAL  27 


saturating  the  ground  with  petroleum,  bringing  in  fresh 
water  and  constructing  sewers.  In  fact,  all  the  measures 
that  were  necessary  to  establish  healthful  conditions  were 
used. 

The  same  course  of  treatment  was  given  the  City  of 
Panama,  much  to  the  disgust  of  many  of  the  Panamanian 
residents,  who  had  been  using  water  from  wells  and  cisterns 
that  had  been  dug  two  centuries  before,  when  Panama  was 
founded. 

A  splendid  system  of  hospitals  was  built  up  by  rehabilita- 
tion of  the  hospital  system  left  by  the  French  company  and 
the  addition  of  others.  Thousands  of  cabins  were  built  for 
the  common  laborers,  the  so-called  "silver  men,"  and  better 
cottages  for  white  men  who  might  take  their  families  with 
them  to  the  Zone  while  engaged  in  labor  there.  Dormitories 
for  single  white  men  were  built  at  every  construction  point. 
Restaurants  were  established  at  which  a  meal  of  four 
courses  was  furnished  the  superior  class  of  white  employees 
at  35  cents.  Provision  was  made  for  the  issuance  of  cooked 
rations  at  a  price  of  10  cents  per  ration  to  the  "silver  men," 
who  are  nearly  all  negroes,  it  being  the  policy  of  the  com- 
mission to  protect  the  life  and  health  of  every  employee  of 
the  Zone,  so  that  the  health  of  the  individual  would  become 
a  guarantee  of  the  safety  of  the  whole  body  of  working  men. 

The  Present  Low  Death  Rate 

Time  and  experience  have  conclusively  shown  Colonel 
Gorgas'  theories  to  have  been  correct,  and  the  gratifying 
result  is  that  because  of  the  wonderful  precautions  taken 
and  the  very  effective  work  done  in  scientific  sanitization 
since  the  commencement  of  operations  under  Colonel  Gargas 
tropical  diseases  have  almost  been  eliminated  on  the  Zone, 
a  matter  of  fact,  there  has  not  been  a  case  of  yellow 


28  THE   PANAMA    CANAL 


fever  on  the  Canal  Zone  since  June,  1906,  and  the  malarial 
fevers  have  been  reduced  to  a  minimum.  The  Canal  Zone 
has  now  a  lower  death  rate  than  most  American  cities^  and 
has  almost  become  a  health  resort.  In  the  opinion  of  some 
of  the  most  eminent  authorities,  the  most  effective  work 
entering  into  the  entire  construction  of  the  canal  is  the 
work  of  sanitization  so  successfully  accomplished  by  Colonel 
Gorgas  and  his  able  assistants.  ^— . 

While  the  work  of  sanitization  was  under  way,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  was  taking  counsel  with  a  board 
of  engineers  as  to  the  type  of  canal  that  should  be  con- 
structed. As  usual  in  all  such  matters,  the  authorities  were 
about  equally  divided,  half  of  the  engineers  being  strongly 
in  favor  of  a  sea-level  canal,  and  the  other  half  advocating 
what  was  called  a  lock  canal. 

The  Two  Types  of  Canal 

The  difference  between  the  two  types  of  canal  is  this :  A 
sea-level  canal  contemplated  an  excavation  from  shore  to 
shore  at  the  level  of  the  sea ;  a  lock  canal  contemplated  the 
construction  of  a  great  dam  across  the  valley  of  the  Chagres 
and  the  course  of  the  Chagres  river,  which  dam  would  have 
the  effect  of  holding  the  waters  of  the  Chagres  river.  The 
accumulation  of  those  waters  in  time  would  form  a  lake, 
the  surface  of  which  lake,  of  course,  would  be  considerably 
above  the  level  of  the  sea  on  either  side.  The  dam  would 
necessarily  have  to  be  surmounted  through  the  agency  of 
locks. 

After  much  controversy  and  bickering,  and  a  great  deal 
of  muck-raking  by  the  newspapers  and  magazines  of  the 
United  States  and  Europe,  the  plan  of  a  lock  canal  was 
finally  adopted.  This  plan  contemplated  the  impoundment 
of  the  waters  of  the  Chagres  river  by  a  dam  constructed  at 


AT   WORK    IN    THE    CULEBRA    CUT. 


THE   PANAMA    CANAL  29 


Gatun,  a  little  village  about  three  and  one-half  miles  inland 
from  the  shore  of  Limon  bay.  This  dam  when  finished 
would  be  7700  feet  in  length,  half  a  mile  in  width  at  the 
base,  and  135  feet  in  height.  It  was  designed  that  this 
clam  should  hold  the  waters  of  the  lake  at  a  height  of  85 
feet  above  sea-level,  but  it  was  constructed  50  feet  higher 
so  that  all  danger  might  be  obviated  in  case  of  excessive 
floods. 

The  plan  of  the  canal  contemplated  that  this  dam  should 
be  surmounted  by  three  locks  constructed  in  pairs,  so  that 
in  case  one  series  of  locks  became  impaired  the  other  could 
be  used,  or  ships  might  pass  up  one  side  and  down  the  other 
at  the  same  time.  Each  of  the  locks  was  to  be  1000  feet 
long,  110  feet  wide,  and  have  a  lifting  capacity  of  2Sy2 
feet.  Therefore,  when  completed,  this  series  of  locks  con- 
structed of  concrete  would  be  more  than  3000  feet  in  length 
and  about  250  feet  in  width,  without  doubt  the  largest  con- 
crete formation  ever  constructed. 

The  engineers  of  the  Panama  Commission  give  four 
reasons  for  the  adoption  of  the  lock  system  instead  of  the 
sea-level  type.  In  the  first  place,  it  would  take  twice  as 
long  to  construct  a  sea-level  canal  as  it  would  a  lock  canal. 
Secondly,  it  would  cost  twice  as  much  money,  and  as 
the  lock  canal  system  is  costing  nearly  four  hundred  mil- 
lions of  dollars,  the  difference  in  cost  would  be  a  great 
obstacle  to  the  construction  to  the  other  type  of  canal.  The 
third  reason  was  that  in  case  a  sea-level  canal  was  con- 
structed it  would  be  necessary  to  place  locks  somewhere 
along  its  course  because  of  the  fact  of  the  variation  of  tides 
between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  Oceans. 

The  tide  rises  and  falls  at  Colon,  on  the  Atlantic  side, 
about  3l/2  feet,  at  the  time  of  extreme  high  tide;  while  on 
the  Pacific  side  the  tides  rise  and  fall  27l/2  feet,  and  this 


30  THE   PANAMA    CANAL 


great  variation  would  cause  a  current  to  rush  through  the 
course  of  the  canal  so  great  that  locks  would  be  required 
for  its  control. 

But  the  fourth  was  the  most  potent  reason  of  all  why 
the  lock  system  was  adopted.  On  the  Isthmus  of  Panama 
the  rainfall  amounts  to  130  to  150  inches  annually.  Some- 
times the  precipitation  will  amount  to  10  or  12  inches  in 
twenty-four  hours.  The  Chagres  river  is  the  only  agency 
for  the  drainage  of  a  vast  area  of  water-shed  in  the 
Caribbean  sea.  Therefore,  at  times  the  Chagres  river  might 
be  a  small,  inconsequential  stream  that  a  boy  could  wade 
across,  and  yet  before  twenty-four  hours  had  elapsed,  be- 
cause of  a  heavy  rainfall,  it  might  have  swelled  into  a  rag- 
ing torrent  that  would  wreck  the  strongest  battleship  of 
the  American  navy.  The  large  volume  of  water  discharged 
by  the  Chagres  river  could  not  be  turned  into  the  canal 
proper,  as  the  currents  and  the  rush  of  flood  waters  would 
soon  impair  the  banks  of  the  canal. 

The  Lock  System  Adopted 

Therefore  it  would  be  necessary,  under  the  sea-level  type 
of  canal,  to  construct  a  series  of  embankments  and  dams 
that  would  be  far  more  expensive  to  build  and  keep  in  re- 
pair than  would  be  one  great  dam  over  the  course  of  the 
Chagres  river.  Besides,  the  safety  of  the  lock  system 
would  be  much  greater  than  that  of  the  sea-level  type. 
These  were  the  reasons  which  finally  controlled  the  de- 
termination of  the  engineers  to  construct  a  lock  system  of 
canal. 

After  the  type  of  canal  was  decided  upon,  the  next  step 
was  the  assemblage  of  the  force  of  laborers  and  the  me- 
chanical appliances  necessary  for  the  physical  operations. 


THE   PANAMA    CANAL  31 


In  order  to  carry  out  this  scheme,  a  commission  was  origin- 
ally appointed,  composed  half  of  civilians  and  half  of  mili- 
tary officers.  The  first  engineers  were  selected  as  being  the 
most  eminent  of  their  profession,  and  taken  from  civil  em- 
ployment. 

Hut  great  difficulties  were  encountered  in  perfecting  the 
proper  kind  of  an  organization  to  successfully  complete  this 
stupendous  project.  The  engineers  taken  from  private  life 
and  entrusted  with  the  work,  after  a  little  experience  on 
the  Isthmus,  would  be  offered  greater  inducements  to  aban- 
don their  Governmental  employment  and  take  some  other 
position,  generally  far  more  lucrative,  in  the  United  States. 
And  so,  either  through  accident  or  design,  the  Canal  Com- 
Piission  lost  the  services  of  such  men  as  Wallace,  Stevens, 
Shonts,  Grunsky,  and  other  noted  engineers,  and  again  it 
seemed  as  if  canal  operations  would  be  badly  crippled  for 
want  of  the  right  kind  of  men  to  direct  the  work. 

Army  Engineers  Installed 

This  tendency  of  the  civil  engineers  to  leave  their  em- 
ployment caused  much  concern  to  the  President  and  Con- 
gress, and  finally  President  Roosevelt,  with  his  character- 
istic acumen,  decided  that  he  would  place  the  work  of  canal 
construction  under  the  army  engineers  entirely.  So,  at  his 
suggestion,  Congress  reframed  the  law  of  the  Canal  Com- 
mission, and  President  Roosevelt  remarked  that  under  the 
new  law  he  would  put  army  engineers  on  the  job,  and  that 
they  would  either  stay  there  until  it  was  done  or  get  out 
of  the  army. 

Experience  has  proved  that  President  Roosevelt's  judg- 
ment was  correct,  for  the  work  has  gone  on  since  the  re- 
organization of  the  commission  with  the  regularity  of  a 


32  THE   PANAMA    CANAL 


machine.  There  has  hardly  been  a  stop  or  a  break  at  any 
point  along  the  line  of  operations.  Colonel  G.  W.  Goethals, 
one  of  the  most  successful  of  the  army  engineers,  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  Canal  Commission  and  given  full 
charge,  and  his  work  has  been  so  successful  that  he  has 
demonstrated  his  ability  to  command  and  to  control  the 
operations  placed  in  his  charge  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
great  powers  that  gave  him  his  commission. 

His  first  step  upon  being  placed  in  control  was  to  pro- 
vide the  means  of  feeding  and  caring  for  an  army  of  from 
25,000  to  40,000  men.  A  bake  shop  was  built  at  Crystobal, 
out  of  which  30,000  loaves  of  bread  are  turned  twice  a  day 
if  necessary,  and  a  batch  of  pies  and  cakes  in  proportion. 
Storage  warehouses  have  been  built  for  the  storage  of  meats 
and  vegetables  and  various  other  supplies  that  are  brought 
from  the  north  by  shiploads.  Ice  plants  have  been  con- 
structed so  that  ice  may  be  distributed  up  and  down  the 
line  of  operations.  Every  morning  at  3  o'clock  a  supply 
train  leaves  Colon,  and  furnishes  every  camp  along  the  line 
of  the  canal  with  fresh  supplies  for  the  day's  consumption. 

Thus,  under  army  supervision  the  employees  of  the 
Canal  Zone  are  as  well  supplied  with  rations  and  materials 
as  they  would  be  on  an  army  reservation. 

Following  these  necessary  preparations  for  handling  the 
big  force  of  men,  came  the  assemblage  of  the  machinery 
and  the  mechanical  implements  necessary  to  perform  the 
work.  Without  going  into  exhaustive  details,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  say  that  the  very  best  materials,  implements 
and  machinery  that  money  could  supply,  brought  from  all 
parts  of  the  world,  were  sent  to  Panama. 

Old  French  Machinery 

One  of  the  most  interesting  things  the  traveler  upon  the 


Upper    Picture — Gatun     Lower    Locks 
Lower    Picture — Huge    Traveling    Crane    Used    in    Construction    Work. 


THE  PANAMA    CANAL  33 


Isthmus  will  see  is  the  mass  of  discarded  French  machinery 
piled  all  along  the  line  of  operations.  No  doubt  the  French 
used  the  best  machinery  that  could  be  obtained  at  that 
time,  but  that  was  thirty  years  ago,  and  the  progress  of  the 
world,  particularly  in  the  use  of  labor-saving  machinery,  is 
nowhere  more  thoroughly  demonstrated  than  on  the  Isth- 
mus of  Panama  by  a  comparison  of  the  old  French  ma- 
chinery with  that  assembled  by  the  American  engineers. 
There  are  piles  of  French  locomotives  that  today  are  abso- 
lutely worthless,  not  because  the  machinery  itself  is  de- 
fective, but  because  of  their  feeble  power.  At  the  town  of 
Empire  there  are  forty-five  French  engines  piled  in  one 
heap  that  cannot  be  used  by  the  Canal  Commission.  In  fact, 
they  are  of  such  little  power  that  they  would  hardly  be 
used  by  a  street  contractor  on  a  city  job  in  the  United 
States. 

In  direct  contrast  to  these  are  the  splendid  engines  sent 
to  the  Isthmus  by  the  commission — 200  locomotives,  not 
of  the  largest,  but  about  of  the  medium  size  one  sees 
on  the  American  railways ;  2000  splendidly  constructed 
steel  dump  cars  for  the  hauling  of  rock  and  debris ;  300  air- 
compressed  drills  for  boring  into  the  rocks  in  blasting  op- 
erations;  125  steam  shovels  of  75,  90  and  125  tons  capacity; 
apparatus  and  machinery  for  the  moving  of  railroad  tracks, 
so  effective  that  a  railroad  track  can  be  slung  10  or  12 
feet  to  one  side  or  the  other,  laid  down  and  spiked  almost 
as  fast  as  a  man  can  walk ;  great  steel  plows  that  are  pulled 
across  strings  of  gravel  cars,  plowing  the  gravel  or  debris 
off  the  cars  on  one  side  so  rapidly  that  a  long  train  of  25 
or  30  cars  can  be  unloaded  in  a  few  minutes.  The  station- 
ary machinery  is  of  the  best  quality  that  genius  and  money 
can  construct,  and  so  effective  have  been  these  means  of 
labor  saving  that  the  work  has  been  accelerated  from  time 


34  THE  PANAMA    CANAL 


to  time  until  it  is  now  a  realized  fact  that  the  canal  will  be 
actually  constructed  a  year  and  a  half  ahead  of  time. 

When  the  Canal  Commission  first  began  their  work 
after  the  completion  and  the  adoption  of  their  plans,  it  was 
estimated  that  110,000,000  cubic  yards  of  debris  must  be 
excavated  from  the  canal  prism.  This  debris  must  be  taken 
and  deposited  at  some  place  so  remote  that  it  could  never 
wash  back  into  the  canal  by  the  rains  and  floods.  The 
debris  taken  from  the  cuts  on  the  high  lands  could  not  be 
used  in  the  structure  of  the  Gatun  dam,  as  it  would  be  too 
liable  to  percolation. 

The  Gatun  Dam 

The  Gatun  dam  is  being  constructed  by  hydraulic  pro- 
cess through  the  instrumentality  of  suction  pumps,  which 
suck  up  the  slime  and  the  debris  from  the  course  of  the 
Chagres  river  and  the  swamps  and  morass  through  which 
the  canal  is  being  constructed.  This  debris  and  this  water 
are  sucked  up  and  allowed  to  run  along  the  center  of  the 
dam,  the  water  running  off  and  the  solid  matter  congeal- 
ing there,  and  by  this  hydraulic  process  that  great  structure 
will  be  formed. 

The  traveler  upon  the  Isthmus  today,  if  standing  upon 
an  eminence  overlooking  the  cut  through  Culebra  hill, 
would  imagine  himself  on  a  height  overlooking  an  indus- 
trial city  like  Pittsburg.  There  are  scenes  of  such  immense 
activity  on  every  side  that  he  forgets  he  is  in  a  remote  part 
of  the  world  far  from  his  home,  and  that  he  is  actually 
standing  upon  an  eminence  in  the  tropics. 

The  development  of  labor-saving  machinery  has  been  so 
marked  since  the  construction  of  the  canal  was  actually 
commenced  that  each  month's  work  has  marked  an  in- 


THE   PANAMA    CANAL  35 


crease  in  the  amount  of  debris  excavated  from  the  canal 
prism.  When  the  Government  began  operations  in  1906, 
the  engineers  had  before  them  the  task  of  excavating  110,- 
000,000  cubic  yards.  Their  first  month's  operations  were 
very  successful,  and  they  reported  at  the  end  of  the  month 
an  excavation  of  about  250,000  cubic  yards.  They  esti- 
mated that  if  they  could  keep  up  this  amount  of  work 
through  each  month  they  could  finish  the  canal  at  a  certain 
time;  but  the  carping  yellow  newspapers  and  magazines 
of  the  United  States  and  Europe  were  extremely  skeptical 
of  the  ability  of  the  Canal  Commission  to  continue  to  turn 
out  250,000  cubic  yards  per  month.  The  critics  foretold 
that  when  the  rainy  season  came  more  debris  would  be 
carried  into  the  canal  prism  by  floods  than  could  be  taken 
out  by  machinery  in  the  dry  season.  At  times  this  criticism 
grew  very  irksome  and  disagreeable  to  the  commissioners. 
However,  they  kept  their  temper,  and  continued  improving 
their  machinery,  and  month  by  month  the  output  grew 
greatly.  It  grew  to  such  an  enormous  extent  that  the  esti- 
mated time  has  been  shortened  to  the  extent  that  I  have 
formerly  indicated. 

The  Work  of  Excavation 

To  give  a  comparison  by  the  use  of  figures  of  the  re- 
markable progress  made,  I  will  say  that  about  six  months 
ago  I  took  up  the  report  of  the  Canal  Commission  and  I 
found  that  in  the  previous  month  the  amount  of  debris 
excavated  for  that  one  month  exceeded  4,000,000  of  cubic 
yards,  this  tremendous  output  being  a  complete  answer  to 
the  criticisms  of  the  opponents  of  canal  construction. 

In  order  to  give  a  mental  picture  of  the  type  of  canal, 
let  us  take  an  imaginary  trip  through  the  canal  proper.  It 


36  THE  PANAMA    CANAL 


will  be  forty-two  miles  from  shore  to  shore.  In  addition 
to  this  there  will  be  an  excavation  out  in  Limon  bay  on 
the  eastern  side,  and  in  Panama  bay  on  the  western  side,  of 
about  four  miles  on  either  side,  in  order  to  reach  deep 
water. 

Supposing  that  we  are  sailing  down  through  Limon 
bay,  which  is  a  small  bay  at  the  bottom  of  the  Caribbean 
sea,  on  one  of  our  American  battleships.  We  first  enter 
the  canal  which  leads  from  the  bay  up  into  the  shore  to- 
ward Gatum  dam,  and  this  section  of  the  canal  will  be 
500  feet  wide  and  40  feet  deep  at  low  water  level.  This 
channel  penetrates  through  the  mud  banks  and  land  about 
four  miles,  when  it  encounters  Gatun  dam.  Gatun  dam 
must  be  surmounted  through  the  agency  of  locks,  whicK 
have  been  previously  described. 

Operation  of  the  Locks 

Our  vessel  then  sails  into  the  first,  or  the  lower,  of  the 
locks.  The  steel  doors  are  closed  and  locked,  and  water 
from  the  chamber  above  is  let  down  by  means  of  pipes  and 
valves  which  discharge  underneath  the  vessel.  This  water 
flowing  into  the  lower  chamber,  raises  our  vessel  28*/2  feet 
to  the  level  of  the  second  lock.  Our  ship  sails  into  the  sec- 
ond lock,  the  doors  are  closed  behind  and  locked,  the  water 
let  down  from  above,  and  again  our  vessel  is  raised  28^ 
feet.  And  so  the  process  is  repeated  the  third  time,  until 
our  ship  sails  out  upon  the  lake  which  is  formed  by  the  im- 
pounding of  the  waters  of  Gatun  dam. 

This  lake,  when  filled  to  its  capacity,  will  be  thirty- 
three  miles  long  between  extreme  points,  and  eight  miles 
wide  at  the  widest  part.  The  course  of  a  vessel  from 
this  lake  will  be  twenty-three  miles  to  a  place  called  Bas 


THE   PANAMA    CANAL  37 


Obispo.  This  is  the  point  at  which  the  canal  begins  to 
run  through  the  hill  called  Culebra,  and  therefore  the  cut 
is  called  the  Culebra  cut,  and  is  nine  miles  long.  The  canal 
through  this  portion  of  its  course  will  be  250  feet  wide  at 
the  bottom,  and  the  sides  of  the  canal  will  slope  so  gradual- 
ly that  at  the  highest  point  of  Culebra  hill,  which  is  325 
feet  above  sea  level,  the  width  will  be  about  one-half  mile. 

Our  vessel  passes  through  this  nine-mile  course  to 
Pedro  Miguel.  At  Pedro  Miguel  there  will  be  a  pair  of 
locks  1000  feet  long,  110  feet  wide,  and  with  a  drop  or  lift- 
ing area  of  35  feet,  instead  of  28  feet.  Through  this  lock 
our  vessel  will  be  lowered  to  a  small  lake  formed  by  the 
damming  of  two  small  streams  in  the  vicinity  of  the  City 
of  Panama.  This  lake  will  be  a  couple  of  miles  across,  and 
on  the  farther  point,  called  Miraflores,  two  pairs  of  locks 
will  lower  our  vessel  to  the  level  of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
From  the  Miraflores  locks  a  channel  will  be  constructed 
out  into  Panama  bay — 500  feet  wide  and  40  feet  deep  at 
low  tide,  the  same  as  on  the  Caribbean  side. 

The  engineering  features  of  the  Panama  Canal  are  not 
intricate,  and  not  in  any  sense  difficult  from  an  engineering 
standpoint,  save  for  the  great  magnitude.  It  is  the  size  of 
the  enterprise  that  has  appalled,  and  discouraged  the  canal's 
construction,  and  not  the  technical  difficulties  of  the  work 
required. 

The  Future  of  the  Canal 

When  the  Panama  Canal  is  completed  the  commerce 
and  trade  of  the  world  will  be  revolutionized.  San  Fran- 
cisco will  be  brought  nearly  9000  miles  closer  to  New  York 
than  it  is  today  and  European  ports  nearly  6000  miles 
closer.  It  is  estimated  by  statisticians  skilled  in  transporta- 


38  THE   PANAMA    CANAL 


tion  and  in  carrier  service,  that  the  cost  of  transporting  the 
great  mass  of  bulky  products  from  the  Pacific  Coast  to 
Eastern  seabords  of  the  United  States  and  to  European 
points  will  be  reduced  nearly  two-thirds.  In  other  words, 
freights  that  now  cost  approximately  $1.00  per  100  pounds 
over  the  transcontinental  railroads  from  Pacific  Coast  ports 
to  Eastern  markets,  may  be  carried  through  the  canal  for 
about  33  1/3  cents. 

It  is  estimated  that  this  saving  of  freight  on  timber 
alone,  which  is  still  standing  in  California,  would  pay  the 
cost  of  the  canal,  great  as  it  is,  three  times  over.  We  can 
hardly  estimate  the  effect  that  this  shortening  of  water 
rates  will  have  on  all  the  countries  fronting  the  Pacific 
Ocean. 

It  would  seem  as  if  the  Western  hemisphere  was  at 
last  coming  into  its  own  in  dignity  and  progress,  in  its  re- 
lation to  all  the  world.  Certainly  the  tides  of  people  of 
enterprise  and  of  business  have  been  steadily  pressing  west- 
ward since  long  before  Bishop  Berkeley  declared  that 
''Westward  the  star  of  empire  takes  its  way,"  and  that 
Western  wave  is  rushing  onward  today  more  strongly  and 
steadily  than  ever  before  in  the  world's  history.  Men  of 
even  middle  age  today  probably  will  live  to  see  the  fulfill- 
ment of  the  dreams  and  prophecies  of  the  olden  time  in  the 
opening  up  of  our  coasts  and  land  to  ship  commerce  with 
every  country  on  the  globe. 

.In  ancient  days  it  was  the  fact  that  seas  divided  nations, 
because  of  the  difficulty  of  ocean  travel.  In  those  days  the 
only  safe  routes  were  those  over  the  land,  but  in  this 
modern  time  of  gigantic  ocean  vessels,  capable  of  carrying 
thousands  of  passengers  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  tons 
of  freight,  water  travel  and  transportation  is  the  cheapest 
and  most  agreeable  of  all  forms.  And  therefore,  today  it 


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THE   PANAMA    CANAL  39 


is  a  fact  that  seas  unite  the  countries  of  the  world  instead 
of  dividing  them. 

The  completion  of  the  Panama  Canal  will  be  only  the 
completion  of  one  link  of  the  chain  of  three  great  improve- 
ments that  are  in  contemplation  by  the  statesmen  of 
America. 

On  the  eastern  side  of  the  continent  all  the  States  bor- 
dering on,  or  tributary  to,  the  Mississippi  river  are  en- 
gaged in  the  propaganda  for  the  deepening  of  that  river 
to  a  depth  of  14  feet  from  New  Orleans  to  St.  Louis,  and 
12  feet  from  St.  Louis  to  St.  Paul,  as  well  as  the  improve- 
ment of  the  tributaries  thereof,  so  that  ocean-going  vessels 
may  penetrate  to  the  very  heart  of  the  American  continent 
and  discharge  their  cargoes  there. 

The  up-to-date  and  progressive  city  of  Chicago,  the 
mighty  metropolis  of  the  center  of  the  continent,  is  alive 
to  the  possibilities  of  the  near  future,  and  has  made  pro- 
vision for  the  issuance  and  sale  of  bonds  to  the  amount  of 
$24,000,000,  the  proceeds  of  which  are  to  be  used  in  the 
deepening  and  widening  of  the  Chicago  drainage  canal  and 
the  Illinois  river,  so  that  ocean-going  vessels  may  not  only 
penetrate  as  far  as  St.  Louis,  but  may  also  proceed  to  Chi- 
cago, and  place  that  great  city  in  direct  water  communica- 
tion with  any  part  of  the  world. 

The  improvement  of  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries, 
then,  is  one  of  the  links  of  the  chain.  The  Panama  Canal 
is  the  central  link.  The  third  link  must  be  and  will  be, 
if  the  projects  of  the  most  eminent  and  patriotic  American 
statesmen  are  carried  out,  the  re-establishment  of  the 
American  merchant  marine,  so  that  American  ships  may 
be  used  as  the  agency  for  the  distribution  of  the  products 
of  our  great  industrial  country  to  all  the  lands  fronting  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  as  well  as  to  all  other  parts  of  the  earth. 


40  THE   PANAMA    CANAL 


I  believe  that  it  has  been  a  well  recognized  policy  of  all 
the  Presidents  and  statesmen  of  our  country  for  the  last 
twenty  years  to  urge  the  accomplishment  of  these  improve- 
ments. They  come  slowly,  of  course,  but  all  large  projects 
take  time  in  their  development,  and  those  of  us  who  today 
are  so  fortunate  as  to  live  in  California,  or  anywhere  upon 
the  Pacific  Coast,  may  easily  look  forward  to  the  time,  not 
far  distant,  when  California  will  be  at  least  the  second  State 
ot  the  American  Republic  in  wealth,  and  industrial  and 
commercial  power,  and  San  Francisco  the  second  city  in 
importance  under  the  American  flag. 


81935 

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'"    10  1935 


LD 

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371080 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


